Basketball

Basketball is a fast paced game that requires endurance, speed, strength and hand-eye coordination. It is one of the most popular sports world-wide, with over one million boys and girls playing high school varsity basketball, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. For parents new to the game, here's what you need to know.

Children can start learning the very basics of basketball from kindergarten to third grade. However, 5-6 year olds still are not ready to play on a team. During this time period parents and teachers can teach them to throw, bounce, and catch the ball. Parents can buy a kiddie hoop so that they can practice throwing the ball into the net; at this age, they are too small to actually dribble the ball and have more fun throwing it anyway.

In many sports, the Olympics have progressively been undergoing a quiet revolution, one in which women, most specifically ones that are mothers, are still competing at the highest level in their sports well into their thirties. Tina Thompson, 33, the first pick in the WNBA's first draft in 1997, and mother of three year old son Dylan, is a woman who exemplifies this new movement.

According to a study of high school basketball players by the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA):
Twenty-two percent of all male basketball players sustained at least one time-loss injury each year.

Because the mid-sole material of an athletic shoe takes a pounding and eventually loses its ability to provide your child's foot with adequate support or cushioning, experts, such as Dr. Michael Lowe, past President of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, and long time team podiatrist of the NBA's Utah Jazz, recommend periodic replacement of athletic shoes, even if the bottom sole shows no sign of excessive wear.

Each year, more than 1.6 million basketball-related injuries are treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms. Here are tips to help prevent basketball injuries.